Return to Colombia difficult for family
Ariases' lives in East Boston fell apart last year
David Arias cannot wait to turn 21, but for a different reason than most American teenagers.
The 17-year-old former Boston Latin Academy student had his life upended in October. His father, an illegal immigrant, had just been deported to his native Colombia. David, his younger brother, and their mother followed him.
Ten months later, the family is desperate to come back. His parents still have not found jobs in the high-crime city of Cali, in the western part of the nation. The family lives in a two-story house on a pockmarked street around the corner from a brothel.
David is the family's chance for a different future. As a US citizen, he can apply to bring his parents here as soon as he turns 21. His brother Daniel is only 6.
"I was born over here. My parents were born over there," David said, speaking softly in an interview at Zumix, a nonprofit community arts program in East Boston, where he taught music classes over the summer before returning to Colombia this week. "We're not different in any way. Nothing separates us. I just don't see why they can't have my rights and my opportunities."
The differences between David and Daniel and their parents, Gustavo and Esperanza, crystallized in 2006. Fearing deportation, Gustavo Arias tried to move the family to Canada and was arrested for being here illegally.
Immediately, the family's nearly 20-year life in East Boston collapsed.
Gustavo Arias had come to Boston to escape threats from leftist rebels in Colombia's long-simmering guerrilla war and to find work, and his wife followed. Here, they had jobs; he was a janitor, and she cleaned houses. The couple had two children and bought a condominium in East Boston. There were trips to Disneyland and New York City and extra money to send home.
David was accepted into one of Boston's three exam schools, Boston Latin Academy, where one of his favorite subjects was Japanese.
Returning to Colombia has been a shock for the entire family.
His father is a high school graduate, but neither he nor Esperanza can find work. "I think he's lost a lot of hope," David said.
David had solid grades at Boston Latin Academy, but in Cali he missed three months of school trying to get into a bilingual school that could prepare him for an American college.
With his former assistant headmaster - Emilia Pastor, who is from Colombia - pushing from Boston and donations filtering in from Massachusetts, Colombia, and beyond, he was finally accepted to Cañaverales International School in Cali.
But school is different there. In Boston, even though he was from a low-income family, he was able to attend a first-rate exam school where most children go to college.
In Cali, his classmates are wealthy elite who can afford the $6,000-a-year tuition, plus trips to Paris, Miami, or New York. Meanwhile, David's family is living off savings and help from relatives. They only spend money on food.
David has trouble fitting in. He speaks fluent Spanish, but he has many acquaintances and no real friends. He reads, plays video games, and strums the guitar. He rarely goes out, and when he does, he stays away from a nearby bridge to avoid muggings.
His extended family of aunts and uncles was the bright spot of his journey to Colombia, but most of them live far away, and he does not see them frequently.
David had a girlfriend in East Boston, but the relationship did not survive the distance.
For now, he is grappling with the same troubles that made his parents want to leave Colombia. It infuriates him that police do nothing about the brothel nearby. He is haunted by the vision of abandoned buildings on Avenida Sexta, a major avenue in Cali.
"It kind of makes you wonder about the situation," he said. "I just think too much about it."
David's mind wanders often to Boston, he said. He is grateful for donations from friends and strangers that helped him study and come here for the summer. The gifts have given him a chance to finish school, take the SAT, and apply to a US college.
The next step will be up to him: to try and bring his parents back. 